Genre:
Spy Film
Release Date: 01/01/2001
Sound: DS
Run Time:
Flags: Mild Violence, Suitable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Live/Artisan
John Sturges directed this taut adaptation of Jack Higgins' suspense novel about an attempted kidnapping of
Winston Churchill by the German high command during World War II. When it is discovered that in November 1943
Winston Churchill is scheduled to spend a weekend in a country home in Norfolk, the Germans plan to kidnap him. Heinrich Himmler (
Donald Pleasence), under orders from
Hitler, assigns Nazi colonel Max Radl (
Robert Duvall) the chore of sneaking the English-hating Irishman Liam Devlin (
Donald Sutherland) into the British countryside and arranging for a 16-man task force to be parachuted into the English country town of Sudley Constable, under the auspices of Colonel Kurt Steiner (
Michael Caine). The efficient planning works too well, and before long their exactingly perfect timetable begins to come apart. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide